Whatever The Cost
by DolbyDigital
Summary: She ran through the crowded corridors of Hogwarts, trying to ignore the atrocities that were going on around her. A flash of green light passes far too close to her for comfort, leaving behind a turquoise after image every time she blinked. Title taken from a Winston Churchill quote.


**For Alice (alicenotinwonderland) - Happy (late) birthday!**

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_"War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow man." – _Napoleon Hill

She ran through the crowded corridors of Hogwarts, trying to ignore the atrocities that were going on around her. A flash of green light passes far too close to her for comfort, leaving behind a turquoise after image every time she blinked. She could hear the sound of a body crumpling and hitting the hard stone floor; the mad cackle that followed as the Death Eater watched their victim die – there was no mistaking who she was, standing tall and formidable amongst the death and chaos clearly in her element.

_"Sometimes I am God, if I say a man dies, he dies that same day." - _Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria

She sped up, not wanting to be trapped in the castle for a second longer than she had to. Another curse was sent in her direction, this time with enough warning for her to rebound it towards her attacker. That didn't stop the feeling of dread from creeping up on her as she briefly saw the shocked expression on the boys face – a Slytherin the year below her – right before he fell from where a set of stairs had been only seconds before, of the urge to be violently sick as she imagined she heard bones cracking and shattering even over the noise of the battle. She would give in to her guilt later, but now she had to find him; she had to know that he was still alive.

_"If you win, you need not have to explain...If you lose, you should not be there to explain!"_ - Adolf Hitler

She ran without looking back, her lungs burning and her legs feeling like jelly, throwing curses at random Death Eaters she passed but never stopping to make sure they reached their targets. She could see the bodies of Death Eaters and Order Members left side-by-side, Death showing no prejudices when it came to taking lives, amongst them were people she recognised – a man who had occasionally stopped by Grimmauld Place; a girl who she had tutored in Charms; she averted her gaze from their prone forms before she could recognise anyone else, unwilling to see a flash of red hair or a face full of freckles.

_"War is a series of catastrophes which result in victory." – _Albers Pike

She took the long way down to the Entrance Hall, seeing all manner of carnage, but nothing could prepare her for the destruction that had taken place here. There were duellers all over the stairs and in the hall; red and green jets of light flying into and from the turmoil, distorting the entire scene with the bright sparks they were giving off. There was no benevolence to be found here; only death and destruction, the flagstones stained with blood and the Slytherin Hour Glass shattering as a stray spell hit it. The emeralds spilling onto the floor was strangely beautiful, even when combined with the pieces of marble and splintered wood and bloodstains. It was like an abstract piece of art creating a bed for the dead to lie in and a sheet of them to lie under, in some ways more fitting a burial than a grave of soil and dirt could ever be.

_"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve_." - Yamamoto Isoroku

She turned away from the disturbing sight of the dead, winding her way through the pairs of duelling partners on her way to the heavy wooden front doors, her feet slipping on the spilled emeralds enough to finally slow her. She watched as a girl from her year and another fighter fell over the banisters of the balcony, quickly being pounced on by a deranged looking man on all fours. With a deafening blast from her wand, she sent the werewolf crashing into the marble banisters leaving someone else to finish the job.

"Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die." - Herbert Hoover

Finally – _finally_ – she made it out of the Entrance Hall and onto the Hogwarts Grounds. It was with crushing relief that she spotted him duelling with two masked Death Eaters. She wasn't sure how they had lost each other, but she was so glad to have found him that she ran across the grounds with no regards to her own safety quickly disarming and one Death Eater whilst he dealt with the other.

_"War does not determine who is right – only who is left."_ – Bertrand Russell

They were still unsure which side would ultimately win this war, but they knew that it would end – one way or another – tonight; they knew that regardless of the outcome, they would see it through together. Whatever the cost.


End file.
